


chasing shadows (only catch an afterglow)

by kihyuks



Series: jooheon poly bingo [3]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Goblins, Korean Mythology, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, Mythology - Freeform, Roommates, dokkaebi - Freeform, korean goblins, minhyuk is a dokkaebi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 02:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20806790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: jooheon is only meant to have one roommate, hyungwon, but somehow he ends up with another roommate, minhyuk, who also happens to be a dokkaebi. and jooheon falls in love with both of them.





	chasing shadows (only catch an afterglow)

**Author's Note:**

> for the **korean mythology** square (changed from roman mythology with permission).
> 
> this has been a struggle but!!!!! its done n i’m proud
> 
> i wasn’t sure what to do for the prompt so i googled a bunch of korean mythology n i really liked the concept of dokkaebi so i went with that so. hopefully that fits well enough w the prompt HWJSJ i got everything off various sites on google + pdfs of books and most of what i read isn’t included but. i hope what i included is accurate

As far as roommates go, Hyungwon is practically perfect. He spends a lot of his free time sleeping which makes their dorm perfect for Jooheon to do assignments in because he _hates_ going to the library. He offers to share his meals with Jooheon which saves Jooheon cooking for himself a lot of the time. He generally just keeps to himself, lets Jooheon do his own thing when he needs to, and is always nothing but polite. Honestly, Jooheon can see Hyungwon becoming one of his good friends and he thanks whoever assigned roommates for blessing him with Hyungwon.

Really, Jooheon couldn’t have asked for a more perfect roommate.

Well, except for one little thing. 

It seems that Hyungwon enjoys pranking Jooheon. So far Jooheon’s never caught him in the act or confronted him about it - it’s all been too menial to bother - but it is a little irritating.

It’s just things like hiding Jooheon’s keys, or his essay he’s printed out, or moving things around to confuse him.

But, that’s the only downside to having Hyungwon as a roommate. So, Jooheon puts up with it and doesn’t say anything.

* * *

Two weeks into living together, Jooheon’s memory stick go missing. It wouldn’t be a problem normally, he often prints out his work long before class, but for this particular instance it had completely slipped his mind and now he needs his memory stick so he can print his essay for his class. 

Which starts in 20 minutes. And he lives 15 minutes away.

Hyungwon, who’s currently napping in his bed, rolls over in his sleep and Jooheon glares at him.

Now is just not the time for Hyungwon’s pranks.

Except... Hyungwon had been asleep the entire time Jooheon’s been home since his morning class. He hadn’t stirred once, so Jooheon knows that he can’t have moved Jooheon’s memory stick because Jooheon had been using it only an hour ago.

But who else could’ve moved it?

Jooheon frantically searches through his bedsheets once again, hoping he dropped his memory stick on his bed when he got home (he knows he didn’t, he put it on his desk) and that he’ll find it amongst the sheets.

He doesn’t, of course.

He scans over his desk once again, then under his desk, and then on Hyungwon’s desk, too, but it just seems to have vanished into thin air.

Jooheon sighs as he checks the time. He needs to leave _now_ to make it to his lecture on time. So, he decides he’s just going to have to ask Hyungwon if he knows where it is.

“Hyungwon,” he whispers, gently shaking the other’s body. “Hyungwon, wake up.”

Hyungwon murmurs something unintelligible, his eyes still shut tight.

“Have you seen my memory stick?” Jooheon asks and hopes that Hyungwon is awake enough to respond.

“Ask Minhyuk,” Hyungwon mutters and then buries his face into his pillow. He pulls his duvet up over his head and Jooheon takes that as his sign to leave.

Jooheon gives up on his memory stick. He’d rather make it to class somewhat on time without an essay and hope his teacher takes pity on him than be super late.

So, with a sigh, he grabs his bag and starts his brisk walk to the campus. As he walks he has only one question on his mind.

Who the hell is Minhyuk?

* * *

“Weren’t you looking for this earlier?” Hyungwon says as Jooheon enters their dorm. He’s holding up Jooheon’s missing memory stick with an eyebrow raised. 

Jooheon decides to feign ignorance to Hyungwon’s pranks. “Oh, yeah. Where was it?”

“You won’t believe me,” Hyungwon answers.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Hyungwon hesitates, then sighs. “In the fridge.”

“My memory stick,” Jooheon begins, disbelief evident in his voice, “was in the fridge.”

Hyungwon nods. “I was looking to see what food we have and I saw it.”

Now Jooheon is just confused. Why would Hyungwon make up such a ridiculous lie about where his memory stick was when Jooheon knows he’s the one hiding everything.

He says nothing, though, instead choosing to thank Hyungwon for finding it, pocket the memory stick and then drop onto the sofa in exhaustion. He grabs the controller from their coffee table and turns the TV on with the sound down low. He doesn’t want to actually watch anything, he just wants some background noise on.

Out of the corner of his eye Jooheon spies Hyungwon approach the sofa hesitantly. He stops next to it, shuffling his weight between his feet instead of sitting down. Jooheon turns his head to make direct eye contact with Hyungwon, frowning.

“Do you want some pasta?” Hyungwon blurts. He looks taken aback by his own words, but then steels his expression back into a neutral one. “I made too much when I was cooking myself lunch earlier.”

Jooheon’s stomach chooses that moment to growl loudly.

Hyungwon smiles. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He leaves the room and then returns with a bowl of steaming pasta. He hands it over to Jooheon, who takes it with a nod of thanks, and then sits down next to Jooheon on their tiny sofa.

Hyungwon fiddles around on his phone while Jooheon digs into his pasta. They don’t talk, sitting in a comfortable silence together.

Once Jooheon finishes his pasta, he places the empty bowl onto the table and says, “Thanks, Hyungwon. It was really good.”

“No problem.” He pauses for a moment. “Hey, do you want to watch a movie?”

Jooheon agrees and they end up putting on The Avengers because Hyungwon knows Jooheon loves it.

About midway through the movie Jooheon feels something tickle his neck, and then something soft on his shoulder. He looks around and notices Hyungwon’s leaning on his shoulder, eyes closed.

“Is this okay?” Hyungwon murmurs. He sounds so sleepy and Jooheon honestly thinks it’s adorable. He can’t deny that he thinks his roommate is cute (pranking aside) and wouldn’t be completely opposed to dating him in the future.

“Of course it’s okay.”

They both end up falling asleep on the sofa together, only waking up once the sun has already set, all shy smiles and giggles as they both head to their respective beds.

* * *

The pranking doesn’t stop. 

It’s been a month and still his things get moved, go missing only to appear in a completely random place, and Jooheon doesn’t know why.

The thing is, even though the only explanation for it can be Hyungwon, Jooheon’s starting to doubt whether he’s really the one playing the pranks. Things have gone missing when Hyungwon hasn’t even been home, but that can’t be possible. The only two people with access to their dorm are Jooheon and Hyungwon, so it _has_ to be Hyungwon... right?

Jooheon groans. He’s overthinking it again. Really, he should just talk to Hyungwon about this and ask what’s going on, but he’s afraid of upsetting Hyungwon or ruining their fast forming friendship. And, well, if Jooheon’s honest with himself, he also feels himself starting to develop a crush on Hyungwon, and he really doesn’t want to fuck anything up. 

So, he stays quiet and just hopes the pranking will stop eventually.

* * *

Jooheon is at the dorm alone. Hyungwon is with his study group preparing for his upcoming exam and won’t be back for a few hours, which gives Jooheon some time alone. 

Which he decides he’s going to spend wisely and sit on his ass with some popcorn watching movies. Because that’s what one does as a productive member of society.

He brings his blanket and comfiest pillow from his bed to the sofa and places them, along with his phone, down before he heads into the kitchen.

He has to dig through their cupboard to find some popcorn shoved in the back corner out of sight. He heats it in the microwave, pours it into a bowl and then returns to the living room.

It’s not until he gets himself comfortable, movie ready to play, popcorn balanced perfectly on the arm of the sofa that he realises his phone is gone.

He checks under the blanket, between the sofa cushions, even on the floor, but it’s nowhere to be seen. It’s like it just vanished when he left the room.

Jooheon checks everywhere again, crawls on his knees just to make sure it hasn’t somehow fallen under the sofa, and then drops back on the sofa with a groan.

Behind him, there’s a giggle.

Jooheon whips his head around. No one’s there. Of course no one’s there because he’s home alone.

But he’s sure he heard a giggle. He’s sure of it, even though it’s impossible.

When he turns back his phone is sitting perfectly placed in the middle of the coffee table.

Jooheon swallows.

He needs to talk to Hyungwon about this.

* * *

“So, what do you need to talk to me about?” Hyungwon asks. He’s curled up on the sofa with a mug of coffee looking completely and utterly exhausted. 

Jooheon feels bad about doing this now, he feels like he should just let Hyungwon rest, but he’s starting to get anxious about what could possibly be going on.

“So, this is probably going to sound ridiculous, but I think we have a ghost in the flat.” As soon as Jooheon says this, he’s sure he hears a snort of laughter, but it’s so short and quiet that he decides he must’ve imagined it, because it definitely didn’t come from Hyungwon.

Hyungwon has a look of concern on his face. “Why do you think there’s a ghost?”

Jooheon hesitates for a moment. Will Hyungwon think he’s weird and want to find a new roommate? Will he be freaked out and leave?

“Jooheon?” Hyungwon prompts.

“My stuff keeps being moved and going missing. Like, I thought it was you at first, but now it’s happening when you’re not here. And then I keep hearing strange noises,” Jooheon rushes out.

The look of concern slowly transforms into a look of understanding. “Fucking Minhyuk,” Hyungwon mutters under his breath.

There’s that name again. Minhyuk. Jooheon still doesn’t know who this Minhyuk person is, and he forgot to ask Hyungwon the last time he was mentioned.

“Asshole, show yourself,” Hyungwon says louder, startling Jooheon.

Jooheon’s about to speak, ask Hyungwon why he’s calling him an asshole, when a man materialises in front of him.

Jooheon doesn’t manage to hold in his scream and the man snickers.

Then, the recognition hits Jooheon. His mind flashes back to when he was a child, his first day of school where he met his best friend. His best friend who moved away a few years later and he hasn’t seen since.

_“Minnie?”_

Minnie - Minhyuk - at least has the decency to look sheepish. “Hey, Joo.”

“So, you two know each other. Great. That saves some awkward introductions,” Hyungwon says. He looks exasperated. “So, _Minnie_, want to explain to me and Jooheon why you’ve been messing with him?”

Minhyuk smiles wide and then approaches Hyungwon on the sofa. Jooheon wonders what he’s going to do - their sofa only fits two people - when Minhyuk plants himself right in Hyungwon’s lap. His blinks his eyelashes, putting on puppy dog eyes, and says, “Can’t I have a little fun?”

The corner’s of Hyungwon’s mouth twitch, but he manages to keep his face neutral. “Explain, Minhyuk.”

Minhyuk sighs and turns to look at Jooheon. “Remember all those pranks I pulled on you as a kid?”

Jooheon nods. Of course he remembers. Minhyuk loved to trick Jooheon with all sorts of ridiculous pranks, but he always favoured hiding his stuff and seeing Jooheon frantically search for it only to reveal its location with a laugh.

“I thought maybe you’d realise it’s me if I did it. Obviously that didn’t work,” Minhyuk admits. “I’m sorry for stressing you out. I just wanted to have some fun.”

This whole situation is ridiculous and Jooheon’s almost convinced he’s dreaming. There’s one question that’s pressing at his mind. “How did you suddenly appear?” 

Minhyuk grins. “I’m a dokkaebi.”

A dokkaebi. Of course. Why wouldn’t Minhyuk be a dokkaebi? It’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. His childhood friend is a mythical creature.

Hyungwon must see the disbelief on Jooheon’s face, because he speaks up. “He really is. I didn’t believe it at first either, but somehow dokkaebi actually exist.”

Jooheon’s still reluctant to believe it, but he did see Minhyuk appear out of thin air in front of him, and his eyes don’t lie to him. “So, you just go invisible or something? And that’s how you’ve been pranking me?”

Minhyuk holds up a hat, puts it on his head and then in an instant he’s gone. Seconds later, he appears back into view with the hat in his hand.

Jooheon just nods. “Right, well. At least we don’t have a ghost.”

“I’m cooler than a ghost,” says Minhyuk as he stands up from his seat (Hyungwon’s lap) and stretches. “So, anyone up for some food?”

* * *

Minhyuk is practically the third roommate at this point. Now that he’s revealed himself to Jooheon finally he seems to spend all of his time at their flat, eating their food and hogging the TV. He never seems to go out and do anything, or have a job, so Jooheon asks him about it one day. 

“Is you not seeming to have a job and stealing all our food a dokkaebi thing or a Minhyuk thing?” Jooheon asks as he sits down at the kitchen table opposite Minhyuk who’s devouring a slice of toast.

“I do work,” Minhyuk replies.

Jooheon frowns. “You do?”

“Yeah. I work my charm on you.” Minhyuk winks and then starts giggling loudly still with a mouthful of toast.

Jooheon rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile on his face. Despite being apart for years and having only been talking to Minhyuk again for a couple of weeks now, there’s something familiar and comforting about Minhyuk’s constant presence in their flat. Even if Minhyuk does have terrible jokes, which Jooheon says to Minhyuk.

“You love my jokes,” is his response.

And maybe Jooheon does, but it’s not like he’d ever admit it.

* * *

Jooheon doesn’t know what Minhyuk and Hyungwon have between them, but he’s almost certain they’re dating. They’ve never explicitly said it, but Jooheon sees the way they look at each other and he _knows_ there must be something between them. Which in itself isn’t a problem. They work well together and seem to care about each other a lot.

The problem lies in the fact that Jooheon has somehow managed to develop feelings for the both of them. It’s approaching Christmas so he’s spent a few months of living with the both of them and he realises one day that somehow he ended up falling for them.

He can’t do anything about it, though, because telling them is off the table (he’s too much of a coward for that) and, well, they only seem to have eyes for each other. 

So Jooheon sucks it up and decides to repress his feelings because, you know, that’s a healthy way to deal with things.

* * *

A loud crash startles Jooheon awake. He blinks blearily, looking around the room feeling disoriented. His blurry eyes finally focus on the source of the crash - Minhyuk. 

“Why are you on the floor?” Jooheon asks.

Minhyuk lifts his head to look at Jooheon. “Hyungwon pushed me out of bed.”

And if Jooheon wasn’t so sleepy and out of it, he wouldn’t say his next words, but he does. “You can sleep in my bed if you want.”

The actual meaning of the words that came out of Jooheon’s mouth don’t register in his mind until Minhyuk is climbing into Jooheon’s bed and wrapping himself around him. Minhyuk tangles their legs together, squeezes Jooheon’s waist and then gently kisses Jooheon’s shoulder and says, “Goodnight, Heonie.”

Jooheon stays completely still as he waits for Minhyuk’s breathing to even out so he knows he’s fallen asleep. When it finally does, Jooheon relaxes only a little. His heart is still beating wildly in his chest, the weight of Minhyuk’s hand splayed across his chest and the soft breaths that tickle the back of his neck preventing him from relaxing completely.

He’s not sure he’ll ever be able to sleep with Minhyuk so close to him.

It feels like hours pass of Jooheon lying there trying not to move or make a sound.

“You’re cute together,” comes Hyungwon’s voice, barely above a whisper. Jooheon is surprised to hear him speak. He thought Hyungwon had fallen asleep already.

“Aren’t you dating?” Jooheon asks. The question has been on his mind for too long and his filter isn’t working as it normally does because of his exhaustion.

“You’re cute together,” Hyungwon repeats.

Jooheon doesn’t bother to ask again, knows he won’t get an answer from Hyungwon, and instead tries to ignore Minhyuk’s presence against him and Hyungwon’s words and finally get some sleep.

* * *

It’s close to their Christmas break, only a week left before Jooheon is leaving to spend time with his family for a few weeks. It snowed overnight, a thick layer of white plastered over everything in sight. Hyungwon and Minhyuk have gone out to enjoy it, but Jooheon chose to stay home. As nice as the snow looks, he can appreciate it just fine from the warmth of his room rather than out in the cold. 

Jooheon’s bored now that he’s home alone and part of him wishes he’d taken Hyungwon and Minhyuk up on their offer to go out with them, but the warmth was too appealing.

He flicks through TV channels, but finds nothing of interest, so decides to go and get his laptop from his room to watch some Youtube instead.

He doesn’t even make it to his room before he trips over Minhyuk’s hat that had been thrown carelessly on the floor. Jooheon picks it up, intending to put it on their coffee table out of the way so it’s no longer a trip hazard, but his curiosity gets the better of him. He knows it’s not just a regular beanie, even if it looks like one, because he’s heard of the folk tales about the dokkaebi gamtu and their ability to make the wearer invisible. He never believed they existed, but he also didn’t believe that dokkaebi existed and now he lives with one. He’s also seen firsthand that the hat actually works to make the wearer invisible - it’s how Minhyuk made himself invisible, after all - but he still has his doubts about it.

So, to satisfy his curiosity, he decides to try it on. He slips the beanie onto his head.

Nothing changes.

He’s not sure what he expected to change, really.

The front door swings open and Jooheon freezes in place. Minhyuk’s going to see that Jooheon tried his hat on and possibly even be mad at him.

But Minhyuk seems to look right through him. He says nothing to Jooheon, just continuing his conversation with Hyungwon.

Jooheon realises that the hat works. Neither of them can see him.

“Jooheon, you here?” Hyungwon calls as he rids himself of his coat and outer layers.

Jooheon stays very still and very quiet.

When there’s no reply, Hyungwon turns to look at Minhyuk with a frown. “I thought he was staying home?”

Minhyuk shrugs. “Maybe he went out?”

The two of them make their way to the sofa. Minhyuk sits down while Hyungwon chooses to lie down. He rests his head in Minhyuk’s lap and Minhyuk instantly cards his fingers through Hyungwon’s hair.

“We need to talk to him still,” Minhyuk says quietly.

Jooheon frowns. Talk to who?

Hyungwon sighs and buries his face in Minhyuk’s thigh. “Don’t wanna.”

Minhyuk ruffles his hair. “Since when are you such a baby? You were the one who wanted to tell him in the first place.”

“I’ve always been baby.” Hyungwon rolls over to look up at Minhyuk’s face. “It’s scary.”

“I know, baby, I know. But we both really like him, right? If we want to pursue a relationship with him we have to talk to him.”

Hyungwon pouts. “You talk to him.”

Minhyuk is having none of it. “We both need to.”

“It’s scary.”

“It’s just Jooheon. He’s not scary.”

At the mention of his name, Jooheon sucks in a breath and promptly chokes on the air. He starts coughing, trying to clear his throat.

It takes a moment for him to realise he’s given himself a way.

Minhyuk and Hyungwon are both staring in his general direction and Jooheon gulps.

“Jooheon? You there?” Hyungwon tries.

Jooheon considers taking the hat off, but if he keeps it on then they can’t be 100% sure where he is and he can just escape out of the door and never return. It sounds like a plan.

“Hey, Jooheon. Take the hat off, please.” Minhyuk speaks like he’s talking to a child who’s just been caught doing something they shouldn’t which, well, is kind of the case. “I’m not mad at you. I just want to see you.”

Jooheon takes a deep breath and then pulls the beanie off his head. He screws his eyes shut, not wanting to see Minhyuk or Hyungwon’s disappointed faces.

“Joo,” Minhyuk whispers and he’s a lot closer to Jooheon than he was before.

Jooheon opens his eyes and is met with Minhyuk’s smiling face. He blushes at the proximity and looks down, biting his lip. Even now, Minhyuk still makes him nervous.

“So, you heard what we said?”

And Jooheon did hear, but part of him is too afraid to believe it. It seems too good to be true. He nods shyly.

“Then you know that the both of us really like you.”

Jooheon finally looks up again and the prettiest shade of is painted across Minhyuk’s cheeks. Jooheon doesn’t think he’s ever seen Minhyuk nervous before, he’s always been so confident. 

Jooheon looks into Minhyuk’s eyes. “Minnie, can I kiss you?” and he sounds so shy for such bold words, but the smile that comes over Minhyuk’s face makes it worth his shyness.

Minhyuk nods and leans in ever so slowly. He keeps eye contact with Jooheon and Jooheon feels him searching his eyes to make sure that Jooheon’s sure about this, so Jooheon decides to be brave and closes the gap between them.

The kiss lasts only a few seconds, but it makes Jooheon’s heart flutter.

“So, does that mean you’ll take us up on that relationship proposal?” Minhyuk asks.

Jooheon can’t stop smiling. “Of course.”

“As cute as you two are,” Hyungwon pipes up from the sofa, “if no one is kissing me within the next five seconds I’m going to be very offended.”

Both Jooheon and Minhyuk giggle, and then they attack Hyungwon’s face with kisses, which makes him giggle too.

They spend the rest of the night talking and cuddling and sharing sweet kisses.

Jooheon couldn’t be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos n comments appreciated :3
> 
> twitter: [@changkihyks](http://twitter.com/changkihyks/)  
cc: [changkihyks](https://curiouscat.me/changkihyks?t=1559413679/)


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